Abreyas, The
by Akktri
Summary: After being whisked away from the Enterprise by the mysterious Traveler, Wesley finds himself in a different world, with no recollection about how he got there, or why.
1. Chapter 1: Prison

I don't remember a lot about what happened when I was gone. I just remember somehow leaving the engine room of the Enterprise and waking up in a prison cell on the planet Woggerscutt.

They say they found me, naked and shivering, in a mound of snow, in one of their top secret government installations.

A mound of snow, during a record heat wave, on one of the hottest days of the year.

I didn't get a good look at the place. The only thing I saw was a big gray room filled with military equipment, and a bunch of aliens in black outfits pointing phasers at me.

They said I kept crying "Traveler" and my mother's name after they stunned me unconscious.

I awoke alone in a white windowless room containing only a bed, mirror, sink and a toilet. It had a door, but I couldn't open it. It wasn't one of those forcefield setups like they had for the Enterprise brig.

For clothing, the aliens had provided me with a little white thing that looked like a dress. I put it on out of necessity.

About an hour later, my prison door opened up, and I got my first good look at my captors.

It was a male and a female, both clad in purple dresses, every part of their bodies covered in fur with the exception of their hands, faces, and long opossum-like tails. The male had spotty brown skin and a yellow pelt. The female had a green freckled Caucasian tone, and a gold cross dangled around her neck. The two seemed stern, but not exactly menacing.

Their faces had a human shape, but their noses resembled a turtle's beak, with nostrils on the sides. They also had cleft palates like a hare, and their eyes had goat-like minus signs for pupils.

I smiled and gave them a wave. "Hi. Any chance you guys can find me a pair of pants?"

The two aliens glanced at each other.

 _"It is summer,"_ the female said. "And the building is temperature controlled. Your clothing is adequate for the climate...are you feeling unwell?"

I reddened. _"Well, not exactly..."_

"We brought you your meal," the male said, typing commands on a remote control unit on his wrist.

A hovering food carrier entered the room.

As an ensign on a Starfleet vessel, no indigenous delicacies really surprised me. The meal was served on a giant leaf. They'd given me a shrimp-crawdad hybrid thing the size of a baseball, a small loaf of bread with something like noodles in it, and a piece of fruit that looked like an amputated headless beetle.

I tried to look pleasant. "Thanks."

"Your name is Wesley Crusher," said the female. "Correct?"

"Y-yeah," I stammered. "How did you know?"

"You were in a delirium when they stunned you. You were quoting name, rank and serial number, and calling to someone named `Traveler.'"

The Traveler...the name seemed like something important I should remember, but I couldn't recall a single detail about him, her or it. I didn't even know what this so-called `Traveler' looked like.

"And who are you?" I asked.

"I am Nevgewa," the female said. She pointed her tail in the male's direction. "And this is Vundexo."

A creature resembling a cross between a mouse and a junebug crawled out of her bob of green hair, sniffing at its surroundings. She smiled, dropped the animal into a breast pocket. I recalled that those creatures, the Qorrujaz, nibbled on their owner's dead skin, shed fur and such, to maintain hygiene.

"You're... _Abreyas_ , aren't you? I met a few of your kind at Starfleet Academy."

I offered my hand to shake. They gave me their tails.

Trusting creatures these are, I thought, but then I wondered what exactly stood guard outside. "Listen. I need to get a message to Starfleet. Can you take me to your communications center?"

Nevgewa looked questioningly at the male.

Vundexo shook his head. "I'm sorry, _bilo Crusher_. You currently pose a security risk, and I require clearance from the Wuttrab before I can allow you to access the communications equipment."

Nevgewa nodded. "I'm very sorry. You seem like a nice human, but the circumstances surrounding your arrival were... _somewhat unusual._ "

"As we speak, the Wuttrab is questioning Starfleet about the trespassing incident. At best, you may be sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. At worst, this may break Woggerscutt's alliance with the Federation and may even result in an open declaration of war."

I felt a sinking in the pit of my stomach. "You sure there isn't another option?"

"Our leaders are researching the matter as we speak."

I could tell by the expressions on their faces that the answer was no.

I wanted to tell them I technically wasn't with Starfleet anymore, but that would lead them to ask questions that I didn't have the answer to, like where I had been the last few months, or years, or whatever amount of time had passed between me standing in the Enterprise engine room and me landing in a pile of snow at their secret military base. Plus, war or no war, Starfleet was going to be my only ticket home.

"All right, so when can I speak to this...Wuttrab?"

"You'll speak with him soon enough," said Vundexo.

The female set the leaf on a fold out table next to my bed. I noticed she wore a phaser on her belt, but she looked strong enough to disarm me if I tried anything. " _Obes. Eat._ The Wuttrab refuses to speak to prisoners when they're hungry. It makes them irritable."

I sat down on the bed and tried their food.

The shrimp thing tasted like blue cheese, honey granola, fish and cough syrup. The bread wasn't much better, sort of a sweaty sock aroma, with a flavor of mushrooms, chocolate and seaweed.

Terrible stuff. I'm surprised I ate as much as I did, but I guess I'd been starving for some time.

"Who's Beverly Crusher?" Nevgewa asked as she watched me eat.

"She's my mom," I said with a shrug.

"You must miss her a lot. I heard you calling for her in your sleep."

I smirked a little. "Guess I'm just a mama's boy, huh?"

Nevgewa did not seem to disapprove. _"The emotional bond with one's egg brooders is not a thing to be taken lightly."_

She pressed a finger to a device attached to her mouse-like ear. " _Guep._ I'll let him know."

Nevgewa smiled at me. "The Wuttrab will see you now."

Vundexo pulled my arms behind my back, fitting me with restraints.

The two led me outside, down a long gray corridor that resembled a piece of foam rubber under a microscope, lined with closed prison cells I couldn't see inside. The place was eerily quiet, perhaps due to some advanced type of soundproofing.

After walking down a few long rows, we turned a corner, stepping into an office filled with displays of security feeds from the various cells, a whole kaleidescope of aliens, all locked away in separate prisons, whether justly or unjustly it was impossible to tell.

A male Abreya in a black dress sat in a padded chair in the center of the room, switching feeds with a device on the armrest.

When I entered the room, he pulled a Qorrujaz out of his mouth, stowing it in his pocket. "Ah. Bilo Wesley Crusher."

He waved his tail at a stool positioned in front of his chair. "Please. Sit down. _You have a lot of interesting questions to answer._ "


	2. Chapter 2: Wutrab

"I...don't know how much I'm going to be able to tell you," I said to the stranger. "I'm having problems remembering things."

The Wuttrab nodded to the stool. " _Obes._ Sit down."

It seemed he was using a universal translator, but it didn't translate every word into English. I asked him about this, and he pointed to a wiggling tentacle dangling from his ear canal. "It is a necessity at a job like this." His tail kept pointing to the stool.

I've never worn a dress before, or even a kilt. I mean, _people have made accusations_ , but until I woke up in that prison, I had never known how awkward it was to sit down while wearing one, especially with my hands cuffed behind my back.

"First time wearing a weghesh?" the male asked as he watched me climb onto the stool.

My face flushed with embarrassment. "Yes. On my world, only females-"

He cut me off. "This is not your world. There is a symbolism to the Ipsego Weghesh, one of penitence, self reflection and prayer, traits we attempt to instill in all our prisoners.

"It hearkens back to the sojourn of the ancient Quaceb Asachurem through the Lerrecpa wilderness, where they, although freed from enslavement to the godless Todrocs, still found themselves in bondage to idolatry and personal evils. Appropriate, don't you think?"

I stared at him. "It...sounds like I don't get to have pants anytime soon."

The Wuttrab rolled his eyes. "Bilo Crusher, this is not a social visit."

He leaned forward in his chair. "You broke into the most highly secured building on the planet without raising a single alarm. _How_ did you do it, and _what_ did you intend to accomplish?"

"I...don't know," I said. "I don't remember breaking in."

For a moment, I caught a flash of memory. I saw The Traveler as he truly was, a jellyfish made of pure energy floating in the cosmos. I remember my hands glowing.

The memory faded.

"I don't believe you," said the Wuttrab. "Who is The Traveler?"

I tried to bring the memory back into focus, but it kept slipping away from me. "I don't know."

An oversized incubator stood in the corner of the room, containing a slimy green egg about two and a half feet in height.

Without a word, Nevgewa brought out a thickly padded mat, placed the egg upon it, and brooded upon it like a hen. She looked at me like she were doing something completely ordinary.

"I'll watch the door," Vundexo said, stepping out.

When I stopped gawking at Nevgewa and returned my attention to the Wuttrab, I noticed him glaring at me.

"How did you make the snow?"

"I don't know that either."

"Who are you working with? What do they have to gain from breaking into the Veogruza compound?"

"My loyalties are with Starfleet, sir."

"Was this a Starfleet operation?"

"No sir, I..."

"What does Starfleet want from the Veogruza?"

I paled. "Nothing, sir! They aren't even involved! Before today, I didn't even know what the Veogruza was!"

The Wuttrab narrowed his eyes. "So you _just happened_ to _stumble into the deepest center of government_."

I shrugged. "That's about the sum of it."

"Do you take me for a fool!" he yelled.

"I don't know what to tell you," I said. "It's a complete blank. I...don't remember anything helpful. I'm sorry."

Nevgewa slid down the egg, wrapping her arms and legs around it, chin and neck pressed against its upper end. "Xirmoyla, he may have used a memory erasure device, or a neurologic disruptor."

The Wuttrab shot her a withering look that said, `Don't play good cop with my prisoner'. "Nevgewa, what did I tell you about wearing your uniform during nugufrus?"

" _Hua kigo_ ," she sighed. "I completely forgot."

"Stop forgetting. You're wearing bald patches into my daughter's shell."

"I only did it because I know how easily _their species_ can be distracted by nudity."

"Let me worry about that."

With a shrug, the female took off her dress and hugged the egg.

She was absolutely right. It _did_ distract me. She had underwear on, but I could see the outlines of tentacles.

"Are humans always this rude?" Xirmoyla asked.

"I'm sorry," I blurted, returning my attention to him. " _Kigo_. I've never seen..." Then, noticing his sour look, I tried a different tack. " _Congratulations._ I'm...happy for you... _both._ "

The female's face flushed green in embarrassment. " _Surely you don't think...?_ "

Xirmoyla glanced at Nevgewa with an expression that seemed to say they had something together, but then he told me, "We are not in a relationship. _She does this out of a religious belief._ "

He opened his mouth to question me, but then Nevgewa blurted, "His wife died last year. It is my Christian duty to care for this infant."

"She is insane," said Xirmoyla.

"`If we are beside ourselves, it is for the Lord,'" the female quoted. "It gives me the opportunity to share the word."

I suppressed a chuckle.

Xirmoyla glared at me. "Find something amusing, Bilo Crusher? Tell me, how amused will you be to remain here for the next seventeen months?"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I know it's a poor excuse, me being a graduate of Starfleet Academy and everything, but you put me in a dress and have your friend take her clothes off in front of me...I used to with with a _Bajorian_ , but she could at least read my emotion..."

"It's called a Weghesh," the Wuttrab corrected with an illustrative tug on his skirt.

"Weghesh," I groaned. "Again, I'm sorry. Can I please speak with Starfleet? _I'm sure they can sort this whole thing out._ "

Xirmoyla leaned forward in his chair. "I've spoken to the already. They want answers too, and I intend to get them."

"If _I_ can't remember a single thing about what happened, how the hell are _you_ going to get answers?"

 _"We have methods,"_ said Nevgewa.

"Guep," Xirmoyla agreed. _"And I intend to use them all._ "

Nevgewa sat back on the egg warming pad. "Are you _certain_ you graduated?"

Xirmoyla pushed a button on his chair. "Vundexo, please escort our guest to Memory Extraction. Take Beslujne with you."

I paled. " _Memory Extraction?_ "

The look on Xirmoyla's face seemed to say `Are you really that stupid?'

Vundexo returned to the room, accompanied by a male with a scar across his face and one mismatched eye that looked... _almost human_.

 _"Juz._ " The guard gestured with his tail, implying that I should go that way.

As scary as Memory Extraction sounded, I was actually interested in getting some answers myself, so I followed them voluntarily.

As I was leaving, I thought I heard Xirmoyla muttering, _"Perhaps it isn't an act._ "

They led me through a door across the hall, into a white room containing a large machine and a medical examination bed.

After removing my cuffs, the guards ordered me to lay down. Once I'd done so, they strapped my wrists and ankles down and stepped behind a shield, manipulating the machine's computerized controls.

The memory extractor consisted of a giant chrome eye that hovered over a person's head and body to decode nerve activity into memory information. A pair of metal wings came out of the floor, reflectors that formed a canal around the bed, perhaps to focus the scans.

The orb passed over me, filling my body with an odd vibrating thrum.

When it passed a second time, the thrumming turned to burning, my head so hot and throbbing I thought I had come down with a fever.

Upon the third pass, it felt like my whole body had caught fire, my head exploding with pain. I screamed and thrashed against the restraints.

And then the orb passed over me again.


End file.
